What can be more important than helping your kids grow in the healthiest state possible? This article will teach parents about the best foods we can give our kids to promote healthy mental growth.
Our team at Ewotopia believes that one of the best gifts we as parents can give our children is the gift of health. In addition, we not only want to provide health-improving options for them, but we also want to teach them healthy habits that can become part of their everyday life, health principles they can follow.
For this post, we wanted to share what some studies have shown to be the best food that helps our kids develop better mental growth. The foods experts like to call this: Brain Food!
We did a little research beyond not only what these best food items are, but also why they are good and their benefits, with a final bonus for tasty ways to prepare them that we know our kids will love.
Can you guess what food items we are going to show you? Let’s find out..
1 – FISH
Fish like tuna, sardine, and specially salmon are a rich source of important vitamins like vitamin D, but more importantly, they are filled with omega-3.
Omega 3 has extensive benefits for everyone, not just kids, such as helping with important brain development functions like preventing memory loss and age related memory decline. Furthermore, omega-3 has also been shown to help kids improve various childhood symptoms and conditions, particularly attention, mood, and behavior issues.
What are some fun ways to eat it? Make salmon sandwich instead of tuna sandwich. You can make some salmon salad using canned salmon with mustard dijon, veggies, and a little bit of non/reduced-fat mayo. Another good way to eat salmon is to make salmon burger patties, and which kid doesn’t love a burger?
2 – EGGS
I bet some of you liked this one! Yes, a simple breakfast we all love: eggs. Eggs are an excellent source of protein and healthy fats. And most importantly, the egg yolk is packed with choline, a nutrient that is essential for brain and memory development.
The best news is that eggs are so versatile. There are a million ways we can include eggs in our kids diet. Try the classic scrambled eggs, or if that’s too boring for them, make an egg sandwich or burrito! YUM. Another fun way is to include eggs in your pancakes or waffle recipes!
3 – PEANUT BUTTER
Believe it or not, peanut butter is actually our friend when it comes to our kids brain development. Yes, we were surprised too, but so happy there are some ‘fun’ foods that have such good benefits for our kids. The greatest benefit is that it is packed with vitamin E, a potent antioxidant that protects nervous membranes. Furthermore, peanuts also have thiamin to help the brain and nervous system use glucose for energy.
No need to say how we can make it fun for kids right? We can make the forever loved peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Just make sure to use sugar-free jelly and whole grain bread (which is also one of our brain foods btw).
Another fun and yummy way to eat it is to have pieces of fruit like apple or banana covered in peanut butter. Your kids will love you.
4 – WHOLE GRAINS
A nutrition trend that has been sweeping the country recently is one regarding of whole grains. You might have heard before about the physical benefits from eating whole grains, but it is also important to know the benefits they have on our brains, and thus, of our kids’. Whole grains provide a great source of glucose, the simple form of sugar that circulates in the bloodstream and used for energy by the brain. Do you ever notice that when you haven’t eaten carbohydrates in a while you have trouble concentrating? That’s because the brain is lacking supply of glucose for energy. Since the brain can’t store glucose, it needs a steady supply of it to function at its best.
Whole grains also contain B vitamins, which are good for the nervous system. Pyridoxine, or vitamin B6, is essential for the synthesis or metabolism of practically all the neurotransmitters. Additionally, vitamin B12, or cyanocobalamin, is essential for the maintenance of myelin (a component of the CNS). Inadequate synthesis of myelin leads to neurological damage.
It is not difficult to include whole grains in our kids diets. Now a days, we can find a variety of whole grain cereals and breads. You should seek to substitute sugary cereals with more nutritious ones that list whole grains as its first ingredient and contain less sugars. Also, look for whole grain bread for those healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We love and totally recommend the Whole Grains and Seeds bread from Dave’s Killer Bread.
Think outside the box! Try whole wheat couscous for dinner with cranberries, or low-fat popcorn for a fun snack. Yay for healthy movie nights!
5 – OATMEAL
Oats are some of the most famous and delicious kids food, and for a good reason. Oats are packed with fiber to help keep kids feeling full and can help prevent snacking on junk food. They are also an excellent source of vitamins E, B complex, potassium and zinc to help kids’ brains work at their full capacity. In short, we can say oatmeal is a super food and should be included in every kid’s diet.
Our favorite way to eat oatmeal is with some healthy fruits like apples (also a brain food, look at that!), cinnamon, and a natural sweetener like stevia. Honestly though, they are delicious with almost anything: bananas, blueberries or even almonds. Another way you can include it in the family diet is with smoothies or in your pancake, muffin, waffle, or cake recipes!
Who would want to see healthy kids recipes on our Ewotopia page?
6 – APPLES
Apples, aside from being rich in vitamins and nutrients, are also super important for our kids because they contain quercetin, an antioxidant that may fight a decline in mental skills.
We recommend to try to buy the organic variety to steer clear of the risk of pesticides and chemical additives affecting your kid’s health.
There are a lot of fun ways to eat apples, not to mention it is a great lunchbox snack. Other ways we can include them in our kids diet is with oatmeal, as previously mentioned, or in our sweet recipes. It is a great way to satisfy the sweet cravings in a healthier and more beneficial way.
7 – FULL FAT GREEK YOGURT
Have you been able to spot a pattern in some of these foods? Many of the items of this list are foods with lots of healthy fats. This is because fats, one of the three major macronutrients, have been proven in research studies to be important for brain health. A good full fat greek yogurt not only provides more protein than other yogurts, but can also help keep brain cells in good form for sending and receiving information efficiently and effectively.
There are many ways to make yogurt a fun snack, just make sure you buy a plain version without lots of added sugar. Mix it with some fruits or whole grain cereals and voila! You have a super powerful brain food combo! Dark chocolate chips are another option. They have polyphenols which are nutrients believed to keep the mind sharp by hiking blood flow to the brain.
8 – BEANS
Beans have energy from protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. This energy helps keep a child’s thinking level at peak all afternoon if they enjoy them in the morning or with lunch. One fun fact to know is that kidney and pinto beans are good choices as they contain more omega-3 fatty acids that other bean varieties, which are important for brain growth and function.
I don’t know about you, but whenever we think of beans we think Mexican food! What about making a mexican bowl with some added beans, or a burrito with a good source of protein, whole grain tortilla, and pinto beans. Kids also love mashed beans with apple sauce! Just get creative and explore the options you know your kids would love 🙂
Long Story Short
Finding the right foods for our kids is essential for their growth and development. We should be extra careful when it comes to our kids brain development since the dietary habits we instill on our kids can help prevent long term brain problems, such as memory loss, in their positive future.
Remember, habits start from the early ages, and kids mostly know what they are taught by and observe from their parents, including foods! There is no need for our kids to eat lots of sugary and processed food just because “they’re kids and they need to enjoy.” We can teach them to enjoy foods that will actually help and nourish them.
As a recap, let’s remember the top brain foods: salmon, eggs, peanut butter, whole grains, oatmeal, apples, full-fat greek yogurt, and beans. All of us parents should make a great effort to include these foods in our daily family diet. This includes us too! What our kids see us eating, they will eat and enjoy.
Furthermore, we wanted to quickly mention a few other foods that can help brain functions. These include berries, colorful veggies, greens, and lean beef. If you are interested in the benefits from these, let us know and we can write a full post for these foods as well.
Let us know, are you including these foods in your regular diets? What other food items do you include and why?
Resources:
Beurkens, Nicole. “Benefits of Omega 3 Fatty Acids for Children with Attention, Behavior, Mood, and Developmental Challenges.” Dr. Nicole Beurkens. September 1, 2015. https://www.drbeurkens.com/benefits-of-omega-3-fatty-acids-for-children-with-attention-behavior-mood-and-developmental-challenges/
“How can eating whole grains benefit my brain?” Share Care. https://www.sharecare.com/health/health-value-of-foods/eating-whole-grains-benefit-brain
Dr Ingrid van Heerden. “Why vitamin B is so important for a healthy nervous system.” Health 24. October 31, 2016. https://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Healthy-Nerves/The-nervous-system-Other-B-vitamins-20120721
Davis, Jeanie Lerche. “Top 10 Brain Foods for Children.” WebMD. August 4, 2010. https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/brain-foods-for-children#5